Data Management Plan

In 2010 the village of Fagamalo, Tutuila, American Samoa, designated a no-take Marine Protected Area that sees the protection of 2.25 square kilometers of ocean. Because little is known regarding the status of living marine communities in the area, and at the request of the American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, NOAA scientists conducted surveys to assess the status of the benthic communities and establish a baseline against which to compare temporal change.

The data described here were collected via belt transect surveys of coral demography (adult and juvenile corals) by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) according to protocols established by the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Plan (NCRMP). In 2015 data were collected at 18 stratified randomly selected sites. These data include photoquadrat benthic images. Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive, accession #0146681. These photos have been analyzed for benthic cover (documented separately). Data from coral demographic surveys, including 1) an assessment of coral colony density and size-class distribution, 2) an assessment of coral recruitment, and 3) an evaluation of coral colony mortality, disease, and bleaching, were also collected for the selected monitoring sites and are also documented separately by CREP.

Fagamalo, Tutuila, American Samoa

Lineage Statement:
Benthic photographs were collected during belt transect surveys of corals by the NOAA Coral Reef Ecosystem Program (CREP) following the same protocol to that established by the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Plan (NCRMP).

Process Steps:

• The survey domain encompassed ~95% of the mapped area of reef and hard bottom habitat, and was divided into strata based upon depth. Depth categories (binned in meters) of shallow (0-6 m), mid-depth (6-18 m) and deep (18-30 m) were incorporated into the stratification scheme, and allocation of sampling effort was proportional to strata area. Sites were randomly selected within each stratum. At each site, two haphazardly laid, 18-m transects were the focal point of the surveys. Adult coral colonies were surveyed within four (1.0 x 2.5 m) segments: 0-2.5 m (segment 1); 5.0-7.5 m (segment 3); 10.0-12.5 m (segment 5); and 15.0-17.5 m (segment 7). Juvenile coral colonies (< 5 cm diameter) were surveyed within three (1.0 x 1.0 meter) segments along the same transects: 0-1.0 m (segment 1); 5.0-6.0 m (segment 3); and 10.0-11.0 m (segment 5). Survey protocols followed methodologies historically implemented by CREP. Still photographs were collected to record the benthic community composition at predetermined points along the same 2 transect lines with a high-resolution digital camera mounted on a pole. Photographs were taken every 1 m from the 1 m to the 15 m mark. This work generates 30 photographs per site, which are later analyzed by CREP staff and partners using the computer program CoralNet. This analysis is the basis for estimating benthic cover and composition at each site. (Citation: Draft Coral Reef Ecosystem Program – Standard Operating Procedures: Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) Benthic Survey Data Collection - latest draft as of March 21, 2016)

Benthic images and the file structure are quality controlled by CREP personnel before they are migrated and integrated into CREP's master optical directory on the PIFSC network.

Data can be accessed online via the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Ocean Archive, accession #0146681.

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